banning plastic water bottles

Single use plastics take five minutes to produce, five minutes to use and 500 years to break down, the vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, told reporters recently.

499 years to go.

In a move that highlights just how catastrophic the risk of choking the planet in plastic really is, the EU has announced a plan to ensure that by 2030, all packaging on the continent must be reusable or recyclable.

No More Plastic Imports to China

The move is partly in response to China announcing that it will no longer accept plastic waste imports. For years, EU countries have met their own higher recycling targets and reduced landfill by shipping the excess to China. Here, the large-scale manufacturing …

In a noble, if somewhat puzzling effort, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has voted unanimously to ban the sale of single-use bottled water smaller than 21 ounces from city property and events. This ban also prohibits the sale of same by food trucks regulated by the city. The city already has banned the use of plastic bags for sacking customer purchases.

It is the hope of city officials that the banning of these plastic water bottles will induce a new mindset toward pollution reduction while helping to achieve the city’s goal to cut landfill waste down to zero by 2020.